‘Pariyerum Perumal’ Thangarasu now has a roof over his head, thanks to Tirunelveli Collector

TIRUNELVELI

Those who were moved by director Mari Selvaraj’s blockbuster ‘Pariyerum Perumal’ that showcased without exaggeration the oppressed community’s humiliations at the hands of their aggressors would not have forgotten the hero Kathir’s father, M. Thangarasu, a folk artist. When the audio of this movie was launched in 2018, some of the technicians including Mr. Mari Selvaraj, touched the feet of this frail looking artist who was then living in a profusely leaking thatched shed at Elango Nagar in Vannarpet in Palayamkottai.

 The respect he could command was for his contribution as a folk artist since the age of 17.

Whenever it rained, Mr. Thangarasu had to insulate his single-room ‘house’ without electricity with a polythene sheet to protect him, his wife Petchikani, and their daughter from the nature’s fury. The light from a kerosene lamp was their only companion after dusk. Yet in this dim light, his daughter has done her post-graduate programme through distance education mode after obtaining a Diploma in Teacher Education.

 “When it rained heavily a couple of years ago, a portion of the roof collapsed one night. We escaped fortunately as we were sleeping on the other side of the room. Even as we were shifting the vessels and other belongings, the remaining portion too collapsed. The thatched shed without door had to be covered temporarily by a polythene sheet,” recalls Mrs. Petchikani.

 When the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association members led by writer Naarumpoonathan visited him after his stunning performance in ‘Periyerum Perumal’, they were shocked to see the pathetic living condition of the family of the folk artist who enthralls the public during temple festivals in the attire of a ‘woman dancer’.

 “What I earn from selling lemon or cucumber (near the Palayamkottai Gandhi Market entrance) during the day is sufficient to feed my wife and daughter. The COVID-induced lockdown completely stifled our life which was just crawling with the help of others. So, I can’t dream of having an all-weather roof above my head,” Mr. Thangarasu told the visiting writers, who were shell-shocked on seeing his agony.

As the pathetic living condition of Mr. Thangarasu got highlighted on social media and the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association took-up this matter with District Collector V. Vishnu, who assured to provide him ‘an all-weather roof’.